Power driven potato digger



Jan. 15, 1935. v L. SMITH POWER DRIVEN POTATO BIGGER Filed Feb. 9, lsl

2. Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 15, 1935 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE POWER DRIVEN POTATO BIGGER Lewis E. Smith, Auburn, N. Y., assignor to International Harvester Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application February 9, 1931, Serial No. 514,347

Claims. (Cl. 55-51) This invention relates to a power driven po- 17 and downwardly depending housings 18 on tato digger. More specifically it relates to such which the wheels 19 are mounted. The drawbar a potato digger embodying a variable speed 16 is mounted on the lower portions of the houstransmission. ings 18. A power take-off shaft 20 extends rear- 5 In the operation of the shaker chain type of wardly beneath the axle housing 17 from the l potato digger, in which the potatoes with the transmission housing of the tractor. Atv the surrounding dirt are elevated on a shaker chain forward end of the member 11 a casting 21, the to remove the dirt, the speed and amount of body portion of which is cylindrical, is fitted shaking required depends upon various factors, over said member and rigidly secured thereto.

such as the condition of the soil. As it is desir- The casting 21 forms a support for the trans- 10 able to operate the shaker chain at `the lowest verse bar 12. At the ends of the bar 12 brackets rate of speed which will eiectively remove the 22 are secured for attaching the digger units, dirt from the potatoes and prevent bruising and as vwill be hereinafter described. Each of the other injuries to the potatoes, the present means digger units is provided with a frame, two essenhas been devised to provide for variable speed tial elements of which are the spaced down- 15 of the shaking chain. wardly extending angle bars 23. Said bars are The principal object of the invention is, therespaced apart a sufilcient distance to provide for fore, to provide a change speed transmission for the operation of shaking chains 24 therebeoperating the mechanisms of a potato digger at tween. At the forward ends of the bars 23,

different rates of speed relative to the forward which are substantially parallel, a digging blade 20 movement of the digger. yThis object is accom- 25 ismounted. The shaking chain 24 is suitably plished by mounting a change speed transmismounted on supporting rollers, such as the roller sion in the power drive connections. 26 shown in Figure 2 and the rollers indicated The drawings illustrate a particular form of in dotted lines in Figure 1. The digging blade 2'5 two-row digger, the frame construction and drivand the shaking chain may be of any well known 25v ing means of which are shown and claimed in a construction. At the rear of the bars 23 a shaft cci-pending application, Serial No. 514,422 filed 27 carries a chain sprocket 28, by which the February 9. 1931. 110W Patent N0. 1,888,504, iS- rear roller drives the shaking chain. sued November 22, 1932. Only such elements To provide for supporting the digging frames,

30 are shown in this application as are necessary upwardly and forwardly extending bars 29 are 80 to illustrate this invention. secured to the side bars 23 and are braced by Figure 1 is a plan view of a digger, embodying bars 30 connected to the draft bars and to the the invention and also showing the rear portion bars 23. The bars 29 extend centrally inwardly, of a tractor to which the digger may be atas shown in Figure 1, and are rigidly secured to tached; and a member 31. A cross bar 32 is secured to the 86 Figure 2 is a. side` elevation of the construction bars 29 and to rearward extensions of the memshown in Figure 1. ber 31, to form a rigid construction. Draft The Supporting frame Structure for th pOtatO beams 33, pivotally secured to the downwardly digger illustrated consists of a transversely exextending portions of the bars 29, extend for- 40 tending axle 10, a Centrally forwardly extending wardly and inwardly and are pivotally connected 40 member 1l, and a transversely extending bar 12 to the bracket 22. In respect to their construcpositioned at the forward end of the member 11. tion and the means by which they are attached Supporting wheels 13 are rotatably mounted at to the frame construction, the units and each the ends of'the axle 10. The central member side of the digger are exactly similar.

11 is rigidly secured to a casting 14 which is, in At the forward ends of the beams 33 forward- 45 turn, rigidly secured to the axle 10, forming a ly extending links 34 are pivotally attached. At T-shaped frame structure on which the digger their upper ends the links are pivotally attached units are mounted. The member 11 is tubular to a transverse portion 35 of a member 36, in form and is of a substantial diameter, thereby shaped as a sector and provided with notches forming a strong central support. At the for- 37. The member 36 is pivotally mounted on a 50 ward end of the member 11 bars 15 are secured transverse axis on an upstanding portion of the and shaped to form a clevis which is adapted member 31. A latch means 38 is also mountedl to be secured to the drawbar 16 of a tractor. on a portion of the member 31 and is adapted The tractor is of a well known type, having an to engage the notches 37. A hand lever 39,

arched rear axle consisting of an axle housing pivotally mounted on the same axis as the mem- 65 tension to which a member 44 is pivotally at.

tached on an axis the same as the axis of the member 36. 'I'he member 44 extends rearwardly and is adapted to operate the latch 38.

On one of the digger frames at the inner sidel thereof, a gear case 45 is mounted on a sup'- porting bracket rigidly secured to the digger frame. The gear casing contains suitable gears for transmitting power from a' horizontally positioned forwardly extending shaft 46 to a transversely extending shaft 47 on which a chain sprocket 48 is mounted. Bearing brackets 49, mounted above the frame of the digger unit on which the gear casing 45 is mounted, provide means for rotatably mounting a transversely extending shaft 50. At the inner end-of this digger unit the shaft 50 is provided with a chain sprocket 51 positioned in alignment with the chain sprocket 48 and driven by a chain there-v from. Y At the outer end of the digger unit the shaft 50 is provided with a slip clutch 52, from which power is transmitted to a chain sprocket 53. y The chain sprocket 53 is mounted in alignment with the chain sprocket 28 on the shaft. 27 and drives said sprocket and shaft by means of a chain. An idler pulley is provided for maintaining the chain at the proper tightness.

At the center of the digger between the two units the shaft 50 extends beyond the.sprocket 51 and is lconnected by means of a universal joint to a splined shaft 54. The splined shaft 54, as the terminology signifies, is constructed in two sections to provide for axial movement whereby a variation in length may be brought about. A shaft 55 is connected to the shaft 54 through a slip clutch 57. The shaft 55 drives a chain sprocket 58, mounted in alignment with the chain sprocket 28 on the shaft 27 of the second digger unit, and drives said sprocket and shaft by means of a chain. At the forward end of the frame structure the casting 21 has an upward extension 59, to which a transmission housing 60 is rigidly secured. A shaft 61 extends forwardly from said transmission housing and a shaft 62 extends rearwardly therefrom. The transmission which is preferably used in this invention is of the conventional type having three speeds forward and one speed reverse. A gear shift control lever 63 extends upwardly forwardly or rearwardly, as desired. As illustrated the control lever 63 extends towards the tractor and within reach of the operators station thereon. The forwardly extending shaft 61 is connected by a universal joint to a splined shaft 64, which is connected at its other end by a universal joint to the power take-off shaft 20. These elements form a fiexible drive connection between the transmission and the power take-oil' shaft. 'I'he rearwardly extending shaft 62 is connected by a universal joint to a splined shaft 65, which is connected at its other end by a universal joint to the shaft 46, previously described.

In the operation of the digger, as above described, power is applied through the power take-oil' shaft 20 through the shafts 64 and 81, to the transmission housing, which may be termed as a change speed transmission. From said transmission through the shafts 62, 65 and 46, power is transmitted to the gear casing 45. By means of the transverse shaft 47 and the shaft sprockets and the chain, power is transmitted to the shaft 50. At the outer end this shaft drives the shaker mechanism on the unit at that side through the sprockets 53 and 28 and the shaft c hain. At its inner end the shaft 50 drives the shaft 54, through which power is transmitted for operating the smaller power transmitting means on the unit at that side. The change speed transmission contained in the housing 60 provides means, during uniform motion. of the tractor, for varying the speed of the shaking chains 24. The chains may be operated at any one of the three forward speeds of the transmission, which is so positioned that said speeds will deliver an upward motion to the top side of the shaker grate. The reverse speed on the transmission provides for reversal cf the shaker chains 24 when larger amounts of material accumulate thereon and fail to disintegrate during the normal upward movement. With the provision of the change speed transmission the functioning of the power operated digger, as shown, has been greatly improved because of the advantage of the different speeds at which chains may be operated.

It is tol be understood that applicant has shown only a preferred embodiment of his invention and that the elements making up the invention may be embodied in other types of potato diggers where-their utility will be equally advantageous.

What is claimed is: y

1. A potato digger comprising a lwheel supported frame, potato digging means mounted on said frame, an upwardly and rearwardly extending shaking and conveying chain positioned to receive material from the digging means and operative to separate the potatoes from said material, and means on the frame structure for driving said chain, said means including means for reversing the direction of travel of the chain whereby an excess-amount of foreign material may be conveyed downwardly when the capacity of the shaking chain to separate the potatoes has been exceeded.

2. A potato digger comprising a wheel supported frame, potato digging means mounted on said frame, an upwardly and rearwardly extending shaking and conveying chain positioned to receive material from the digging means and `operative to separate the potatoes from said material, receiving means positioned to receive potatoes from said chain, and means on the frame structure for driving said chain, said means including means for reversing the direction-oftravel of the chain whereby an excess amountof foreign material may be conveyed downwardly when the capacity of the shaking chain to separate the potatoes has been exceeded.

3. A potato digger comprising, in combination with a tractor having a power take-oil.' shaft, a wheel supported frame connected to the tractor, potato digging means mounted on said frame, an upwardly and rearwardly extending shaking and conveying chain positioned to receive material from the digging means and operative to separate the potatoes from said material, receiving means positioned to receive potatoes from said chain, and means on the frame structure for driving said chain from the power take-off shaft, said means including means for reversing the direction of travel of the chain of the shaking chain to separate the `)potatoes has exceeded.

4. The combination with a vtractor having power` take-oil', of a potato digger comprising a wheel supported frame, potato diggingv means mounted on said frame, an upwardly and rearwardly extendingv shaking and conveying chain positioned to receive material from the digging means and operative to separate the potatoes from said material, and means on the frame structure for driving said chain, said means including, in combination, an extensible shaft connecting with the power take-oil, a transmission means in series'permitting the conveying chain to be runat variable speeds upwardly, reversed, or stopped in neutral, an extensible shaft connectinga gear box tothe transmission, a transverse shaft driven from the gear box, friction clutch means on said transverse shaft driving said conveying chain whereby said conveying chain may stop when overloaded although the saidrtransverseshaft continues to revolve in its regular direction to drive the Y conveying chain upwardly or in a reverse direction to free the conveying chain -when it is clogged when said transmission means is reversed.

f .natascia ljf y 5. '111e combination withia trar'strhaving a power take-oit, of ,a potato l.digger comprising a A -wheel "supportedl frame,v potato f digging means mountedi on said frame, upwardly and: rear- 1 wardlyextending shaking` and'conveying chains positioned to receive material from the digging means and operative to separate the potatoes from said material, and Ymeans 'on the frame structure for driving said conveying chains, said means including, in combinatioman extensible shaft connectingk with Ithe power take-oir, a transmission means inseries permitting the conveying chains to be run` at 'variable speeds upwardly, reversed, or stopped in neutral, an extensible shaft connecting a gear box to the transmission, a transverse shaft driven from the gear box, said transverse shaft comprising a iixed length shaft overlyingV one conveying chain and an extensible shaft overlying the other conveying chain, friction clutch means on both said transverse shafts driving said conveying chains whereby either of said conveying chains may stop when. overloaded although the said transversev shafts'V continue'. to revolveY in their regulardirection'tojdrive said conveying chains upwardly or in avreverse .direction to free the conveying chains when' .they are clogged when said transmission meaxis is reversed. Y

A. E. SMITH. v30 

